


Impel Down Breakout

by Fanfictionneer



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Gen, Impel Down, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfictionneer/pseuds/Fanfictionneer
Summary: The Straw Hat Crew is captured and locked up in the great underwater prison of Impel Down, all except Luffy. He, with the help of some friends, travels to the prison to save his nakama, no matter what.Rated T for physical and some mental torture and large amounts of blood.
Kudos: 3





	1. Captivity

It had all happened so suddenly. Being surrounded by a whole fleet of Navy ships, lead by Admiral Kizaru and Admiral Fujitora themselves. They were with too many, and we with too few. Very soon, we were defeated, one by one, and captured. We were forced on board of a Navy ship and were brought to Impel Down, the prison feared by many, leaving the Sunny behind. 

The ship, together with all of us, was used as bait, bait for our captain, Monkey D. Luffy, who was out in the forest when we were attacked. Now, we are imprisoned, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook and I. We’ve all been separated from each other, not knowing where the others are, on different floors and in different cells. None of us knows when we will get out, if we ever do.

Please, come save us….

Captain….

Monkey D. Luffy, the captain of the infamous Straw Hat Pirates, walked out of the shadows of the forest after having looked everywhere for something fun and exciting, with not much success. The only thing he’d found was a golden stagbeetle, but it had soon flown away.

The young captain pouted as he trudged towards the Thousand Sunny. “Ah, this forest is boring, it has boring stuff in it…” he complained to himself. He launched himself on the ship. “Oi! Sanji, make me some food, I’m hungry!” he exclaimed. When he didn’t get a reply, he yelled again. “Sanji! Hey! I need food!”

After waiting for a while again, Luffy didn’t get a response, again. Weird….

The captain looked around his ship, and to his confusion, no one was on deck. There was always someone on deck…

The Straw Hat climbed into the crow’s nest, but he didn’t find anyone there. He was really getting confused here, this wasn’t normal. If no one was on deck, someone was always bound to be up in the crow’s nest.

Luffy went back down to the deck and then entered the kitchen. No one… After that, he checked the bedrooms. Still no one… The bathroom…Nobody in sight…. Infirmary…None of his nakama to be seen…Aquarium bar…Empty….Library…Nobody there…Engine room…no Franky or anyone else…Storage…Empty too…Franky’s workshop and Usopp’s factory…nothing…

The entire Sunny…was deserted…

Luffy was starting to get really worried at seeing that absolutely no one was on the ship. When he returned to deck, he saw a slip of paper pinned to the mast with a knife, which he hadn’t noticed before in his confusion. He walked up to the mast and started reading.

‘Straw Hat Luffy,  
We, the Navy, have captured your crew. As you are reading this, they have probably already arrived in Impel Down. They will be kept there for life if you don’t do something about it. If you want them to be released, come to Impel Down and give yourself in, or else you’ll never see them again. Any attempts of breaking into the prison to free them will be futile. You won’t be able to repeat what you did 2 years ago.  
The choice is yours to make, Monkey D. Luffy.  
Sincerely,  
Admiral Kizaru and Admiral Fujitora of the Navy.’

Luffy’s eyes went as wide as plates at reading the letter. His crew had been captured and brought to Impel Down.

His expression darkened as anger boiled up inside him. He had to save his friends! There was no way he was just going to hand himself over to the Navy either, they’d probably just go after his crew anyway. They probably strengthened the prison’s defences since the big outbreak two years ago, and what they said in the letter about any attempts to break in being futile enforced that. But despite that, he was going to do it again, but he needed help in order to pull it off. But the question was…from who?

The Straw Hat thought for a moment before various faces of friends he’d made on his adventures appeared in his mind and then, he knew just who to ask. He went to the library, took out some paper and ink and started writing.

In Alabasta, Vivi Nefertari was peacefully reading a book with Carue sleeping next to the chair she was sitting on. 

Suddenly, Igaram practically stormed into the room. “Vivi-sama!” he exclaimed, causing Carue to wake up and jump at the sudden yelling. 

Vivi looked up from her book. “Hm? What is it Igaram? Did somethin happen?” she asked quite normally. Igaram stormed into her room all the time, even for small things, so she was used to it.

“A letter came in!” Igaram uttered loudly, breathing heavily. He probably all the way to her room.

Vivi tilted her head. “A letter? From who?” she asked, getting a bit curious.

“Straw Hat!”

Vivi’s eyes widened. “Luffy?” she asked surprised. She got a letter from Luffy? That made her quite excited, she hadn’t heard from Luffy and the others since they left two years ago. Sure, she read about them in the newspaper almost all the time, but hearing from them personally hadn’t happened yet ever since their goodbye.

Igaram nodded and took an envelope out of the pocket of his jacket. He walked over to the princess and handed her the letter.

Vivi looked at her name written on the back. It was in a very squiggly, childish handwriting, definitely Luffy’s. When she took the letter out of the envelope and folded it open, she was surprised to see the same handwriting. Had Luffy written it himself? Vivi had expected someone with a slightly more readable handwriting, like Nami, to write it for him.

As she started reading the letter, she’d expected it to be something positive, but much to her shock, it was the exact opposite. Her eyes widened as she read the words and she wondered if she hadn’t read it wrong because of the squiggly handwriting. She read it over and over again, but she still read the exact same thing….

The crew had been captured and taken to Impel Down…all but Luffy.

Vivi quickly continued reading, and she felt hope welling up inside of her. Luffy wanted to break them out, and he was asking for her help. Luffy needed her, his old crewmate, once again and Vivi couldn’t help but feel both touched and honoured. 

After she finished reading the letter, the princess of Alabasta looked up to Igaram with a determined look on her face. She was ready, ready to save her friends.

“Igaram, go prepare a ship, we’ll be heading out tomorrow morning.” She spoke on an unusually serious tone, something that Igaram couldn’t possible say no to.

Somewhere on an island in the New World, Jinbe was sitting on a cliff that overlooked the sea, enjoying the sunset when suddenly, a mail delivery bird dropped a letter on the grass next to him.

“Hm? A letter?” Jinbe wondered out loud as he picked up the envelope. He opened it and folded open the letter. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his face as he saw the horrible handwriting.

“Definitely from Luffy-kun…” he muttered and started reading.

His eyes widened in shock at reading its contents. Luffy’s friends were captured and imprisoned in Impel Down?! Luffy was asking for his help, and the fishman was certain that he wasn’t the only one being asked.

“Hmmm…It seems we have to break into that bothersome place once again.” He grumbled as he got to his feet and made his way to the island’s port to head to Luffy’s location.

On Momoiro Island, Emporio Ivankov was rudely woken up from his beauty sleep by Caroline. He needed his beauty sleep…

A letter was hastily thrusted into his ‘delicate’ hands, so he opened the envelope with his sharp nails and started reading the almost unreadable handwriting. Just by the fact that the handwriting was so un-beautiful and childish, the Okama ‘Queen’ knew right away who the letter was from.

He was shocked to read that Straw Hat-boy’s nakama had been captured by the Navy and sent to Impel Down. They wanted to use the crew as bait for poor Straw Hat-boy. The young man wanted to break into the prison once again, with his help, as well as a few others, though the names weren’t mentioned. Ivankov knew for sure that Jinbe would be one of those other people.

Ivankov smirked and turned to Caroline. “Honey, prepare the ship and notify Inazuma, we are heading out after I finished my beauty sleep.” 

This was going to be fun.

Meanwhile, far away, in Impel Down, the Straw Hats had arrived. They were all roughly shoved out of the ship and towards the prison’s gates, one by one, with shackles on their wrists and ankles.

The Devil Fruit users of the crew had difficulties walking, let alone staying upright. The shackles were made of Sea Prism Stone. Especially Chopper seemed to be having a difficult time moving forward, the poor thing. Instead of carrying him, the marines just kept pushing him up again whenever he lost his balance. 

Some of the crew were acting in a complete different way though. Zoro, for example, was glaring dangerously at every single Marine around, unnerving a great deal of them. The rest of the crew couldn’t help but be amused by this. Zoro was an expert at scaring and unnerving people.

When they reached the gate, the Straw Hat Pirates were handed over to the jailers of Impel Down. They were led over the bridge that went from one gate to the next and were then pushed inside. After walking through a long, dark hallway, they were forced into a very warm, humid room. When the crew looked around, their eyes widened in horror at what they saw in the center of the room. 

Large, stone pots filled with boiling water.

Were they actually going to force them to go into those things? The entire crew started to feel uneasy, even Zoro, Sanji and Robin. 

Chopper, who was closest to Nami, looked up to the navigator. The little reindeer was shaking, a lot, and it wasn’t just because of the Sea Prism Stone shackles. “Nami, I’m scared…” he uttered.

Nami’s expression softened. “Don’t worry Chopper, it’s going to be okay.” She tried to assure him, though she was afraid as well.

“Shut up!” One of the jailors yelled loudly, making the two flinch. 

“Oi, what are these things for? Are you gonna cook dinner for us?” Zoro asked, challenging the jailors.

“Shut up I said!” the same jailor yelled again. He took a nightstick from his belt and hit Zoro square in the stomach with it. The swordsman didn’t bend over like most people would, but he still gritted his teeth together from the pain. The first mate glared at the jailor, who simply ignored him and put the nightstick back in place.

The first ones who got stripped from their belongings and clothing were Zoro, Sanji, Franky and Brook. Of course, this was quite humiliating, being naked in front of all those people. They were each shoved towards one of the pots with boiling water, which was meant to desinfect them.

Zoro was the first to get pushed into his pot, but he didn’t scream or even move, he just tightly gritted his teeth again while he was practically cooked alive. Sanji did the same thing, but a few pained sounds did escape from him, but not much. Brook didn’t react much, with him being a skeleton and all.

Franky was a special case, being a cyborg. When they’d stripped him of his weapons, they actually pulled all his parts off besides the ones that kept him alive. It took a long time to remove everything. When he was pushed into the boiling water, he did scream, but only once and it wasn’t so loud. He did his very best to endure it, like the others.

When those four came out of the water, all of them, except Brook of course, were completely covered in burns and blisters. They were then forced to put on the typical black and white striped uniforms.

It was Nami, Robin, Usopp and Chopper’s turn. Of course, it was even more embarassing for Nami and Robin, being women and having all those male jailers ogle at them, though Nami found it much worse than Robin. Those four did scream, terribly, even the usually calm Robin. Since Chopper was so small and couldn’t turn into his Heavy Point because of the shackles, he was held up in the boiling water up to his neck by a steel chain.

When the four came out of the boiling water, they were also covered in burns, and some of Chopper’s fur had even burned off, giving him bald spots. They were also forced to wear the uniforms.

After that, they were registered in the prison’s ‘list’ and it was decided which levels they would all be placed on. The moment they were all seperated from each other had arrived. It was a silent, yet very emotional goodbye. They weren’t allowed to talk, so they spoke with their eyes. Chopper also started crying and tried his very best not to make noise or else he’d be beaten.

Chopper was placed on level one, having a bounty of only 50 beli. He had to suffer through the hell of being cut all over his body and being chased by poisonous spiders and jailers.

Nami was put on level two and she was unfortunate enough to end up in a cage full of men. Usopp was put on the same level, but in a cell on the exact opposite side of the huge level so they were as far away from each other as possible. They had to constantly be on guard for the monsters walking around.

Even though level three was mostly for criminals with bounties of 50 000 beli and higher, Franky and Brook were put there, again as far away from each other as possible. They had to live through the torture of starvation and the heat that came from the level below.

They put Sanji on level four, making him work very hard every day in the horrible heat.

Robin was on level five, having to suffer in the incredible cold.

And finally, they placed Zoro on level six, in complete darkness and isolation, shackled to the wall of his cell.

Like this, the Straw Hats would have to go through indescribable pain and mental torture, but despite being apart, they were all thinking the same thing.

Luffy was going to save them one day, no matter what.


	2. The Get-Together

Luffy walked around the Thousand Sunny, all by himself. It had already been about 9 hours since he discovered that his crewmates, his friends, had been captured and taken to Impel Down, but it still hadn’t sunk in. The captain walked into the kitchen and saw Sanji by the stove, preparing dinner as if it was actually happening. The imaginary Sanji turned to Luffy with a pissed expression on his face.

“Oi! If you as much as think of touching that I’ll kick your ass!” the fantasy-Sanji yelled angrily before fading like smoke.

Luffy clenched his fists as the fact that his friends weren’t there hit him head-on yet again. He then walked out of the kitchen and into the infirmary. There, he saw Chopper sitting at his desk, reading some kind of book on medicinal herbs. The imaginary version of his youngest crewmate turned his desk chair to look at him.

“What happened this time Luffy? Did Nami punch you again? Come here, I’ll have a look.” the imaginary Chopper spoke. As Luffy took a step towards him however, he faded just like Sanji had.

The captain bit his lip and walked out of the little infirmary and onto the deck. A fantasy-Brook then appeared by the mast. The skeleton let out his signature laugh and picked up his violin and bow, which had been resting next to him.

“What song would you like me to play next Luffy-san?” the fake Brook asked cheerfully, before going up in smoke.

Luffy quickly walked away and went to the aquarium room, where he saw imaginary Robin read a book. She looked up to the captain and smiled kindly while closing her book.

“Is there something you need captain?” the fake archaeologist asked on a friendly tone. 

Luffy couldn’t help but feel like Robin, though a reflection of his imagination, could help him somehow, she always knew what to do right?

After an inner debate, he decided to give it a try. “Robin, what do I have to do? I mean, I asked a bunch of friends for help to save you guys, but we don’t even have a plan to break you all out and some might not be able to come help.”

Much to Luffy’s surpise, imaginary Robin smiled a comforting smile and stood up. “Since when do you need a plan? You’re Straw Hat Luffy, aren’t you? You don’t need any plans.” She answered, surprising the young captain even more, before fading with a giggle.

Luffy couldn’t help but smile brightly. Robin was right, he didn’t need any plans! What was he thinking?! Plans are dumb!

The Straw Hat then left the room and climbed up in the crow’s nest. There, he saw Zoro doing his weight lifting. The mosshead seemed to notice him and put down the weights, making everything shake.

“Oi, what are you doing here you moron? Can’t you see I’m training?!” Imaginary Zoro spoke annoyed, not enjoying the fact that his training was being interrupted.

“Hey Zoro, how should I break open the prison’s gates to bust you out?” Luffy asked.

Mirage Zoro smirked while cracking his knuckles. “Heheh, just use whatever breaks the most stuff. Also, make sure to leave enough guards for me to cut, I’d like to repay them for their ‘hospitality’.”

Luffy grinned widely. “Will do!” he exclaimed before Zoro went up in smoke.

The hyperactive captain then went back down to the deck and ran to Franky’s weapon development room, where he saw imaginary Franky working on some new invention for the ship. The cyborg looked up to Luffy and grinned. 

“Oi Luffy! Check out this new weapon I’m making! Looks SUPERRR cool right?! I’m not going to tell you what it is though, it’ll be a surprise!”

Luffy looked at the mysterious object with stars shining in his eyes. It looked so awesome! The Straw Hat grinned and looked up to the shipwright. “It looks awesome Franky!” he exclaimed. After a short while, Luffy spoke up again. “Hey Franky, is there anything here that I can use to bust you guys out?”

The fantasy Franky looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. “Well, there are some really handy things in that closet over there, like explosives, guns and other cool stuff.” He said and pointed to said closet.

Luffy grinned widely. He knew he could depend on Franky to have amazing weapons and gadgets to get out of tough situations! “Thanks Franky! I promise I’ll save all of you!”

Franky grinned and gave his captain a big, steel thumbs up. “Yeah! I’m sure you’ll pull it off in a SUPER spectacular way!” he reacted enthusiastically before fading.

Luffy’s grin turned into a smile and the young pirate headed to Usopp’s Factory next door after collecting a few random objects from the closet that seemed useful enough. There, he saw an Usopp mirage looking at blueprints he’d made for some kind of new project.

“Hey Usopp!” Luffy greeted him loudly, knowing that the projection of his own mind would react like the others had.

Indeed, Usopp looked up to him. “Yo Luffy! What brings you to the Great Captain Usopp’s quarters?” he spoke loudly, proudly puffing his chest and jabbing his thumb at himself.

“I was wondering if you have any cool ideas to break you and the others out of prison!” Luffy responded, his grin making a comeback on his face. “Robin told me to just do it, without any plans, like we usually do.”

Mirage-Usopp grinned and gave Luffy the thumbs up. “Good! That’ll do just fine! If even Robin says so, then it’s bound to work!” he responded before disappearing with a cloud of smoke.

Luffy’s grin expanded even more. “Good!” he exclaimed loudly and ran back to the deck. He spotted ‘fake Nami’ by the tangerines, so the captain walked up to her. “Yo Nami!” he greeted loudly.

The illusionary Nami, who’d been very focused on her favourite fruit, jumped up in surprise when Luffy suddenly spoke up so loudly. She quickly turned to face Luffy. “Luffy! Don’t scare me like that!” she yelled angrily.

Luffy laughed. “Heheh, sorry Nami!”

“You better be sorry you idiot!” Nami shouted and punched Luffy in the head, something Luffy actually didn’t feel this time, probably because of this Nami just being an illusion. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Once she was calm again, she unclenched her fist and looked at Luffy. “So what did you want?”

“I didn’t really want anything, I just wanted to tell ya that I will save you guys, for sure!” Luffy spoke with a bright grin on his face yet again.

Nami couldn’t help but smile warmly. “I know you will, Luffy.” She said softly before fading.

After all of that, Luffy managed to break open the very well locked and booby-trapped fridge and ate most of the food that was in there. After that, he went to bed and he had a good night’s sleep despite what was going on. It was all thanks to his friends, or rather, mirages of them.

The next day, none of the people he’d asked to help had arrived yet, but that made sense. Even Luffy knew that they couldn’t just get there in one day, or a few days for that matter, and he was right because no one arrived the first five days.

On the sixth day however, Luffy saw a ship approaching the island in the distance. His face lit up and he shot up from the grassy floor of the Sunny when he spotted the ship. When the ship got closer, the pirate captain saw that a flag of Alabasta was waving proudly at the top of the main mast. Vivi had arrived.

Luffy got off the Sunny when the ship was almost there and waved at the other ship with a big grin on his face. “OOOOIIIIII!!!! VIVI!!!!!” he yelled enthusiastically.

The ship reached the shore and before the walkway was even placed down, someone jumped off the ship and ran up to Luffy. “Luffy-san!” Vivi called while running to him with a wide smile on her face. She reached him and hugged him tight. “It’s so great to see you again Luffy-san, it’s been such a long time!” she uttered happily.

Luffy grinned again and returned the hug. “Shishishi! It sure has!” he agreed.

Vivi giggled at Luffy’s enthusiasm as she pulled away from the hug. “You haven’t changed in the slightest, have you?”

“I guess I didn’t!” Luffy responded. “You don’t seem to have changed a lot either though, but I’m sure you’ve gotten really strong!”

Vivi smiled brightly. “Well, I am happy to hear that because I have trained very hard for the past two years.” She said.

Someone coughed behind Vivi. “Ma, ma, maaa, that is true.”

“Awesome, sheep-guy!” Luffy exclaimed loudly.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Igaram’s face. “Sheep....guy?”

Vivi and Luffy continued catching up for the next few hours, Igaram often going to their ship to give the crew orders to clean the ship and start preparing a feast, and later on checking if they were doing it properly.

Then, another ship appeared on the horizon, sailing towards the island. It was a larger ship than the Sunny and the ship Vivi and Igaram had come with. When it neared the island, they could see that the people on the ship weren’t humans, but fishmen.

Luffy grinned. “It’s Jimbei!” he uttered happily.

The large ship reached the island and threw out the anchor. Jimbei and some of the fishmen crew got off the ship and walked up to Luffy, Vivi and Igaram. 

Jimbei smiled. “It is great to see you again, Luffy-kun.” He spoke up in his gruff voice.

“It’s great to see ya too Jimbei! Thanks a ton for coming to help out!” Luffy responded, a wide smile decorating his face again.

“It is no problem at all, I owe you and your crew a lot, it is only natural for me to come to your aid.” Jimbei explained. “Besides, you are my friends as well.”

“Of course we’re all friends!” Luffy agreed enthusiastically. This very Luffy-like reaction made Jimbei, Vivi and Igaram smile. They knew all too well that Luffy views many people as his friends, it was simply the Straw Hat captain’s way of thinking. He was able to make every kind of person want to support him.

“Oh, Jimbei! This is Vivi, she was in our crew for a while!” Luffy uttered loudly, motioning towards the blue-haired princess.

Jimbei averted his gaze to his friend’s former crewmate and nodded in greeting. “Ah, Vivi Nefertari, princess of Alabasta, correct?” he spoke politely, to which Vivi nodded. “It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Jimbei, the current captain of the Sun Pirates.”

Vivi smiled kindly. “It is great to meet you as well, Jimbei-san, and it seems you are a good friend of Luffy as well.”

Shortly after this introduction, yet another ship could be seen in the distance. As it came closer to the shore, you could make out that it was a very large ship with many flashy, colourful decorations. Obviously, it was a ship that belonged to Emporio Ivankov. At the front of the ship stood many Okama, enthusiastically waving at them in their odd outfits.

“Oh dear...” Jimbei mumbled, while Luffy waved back at the Okama with equal enthusiasm. Vivi giggled, her hand in front of her mouth. “They seem like very interesting people.”

The ship reached the shore and a surprisingly bulky Okama threw out the anchor while some others laid out the plank. Instead of using said plank, Ivankov opted for a more flashy entrance by jumping off the ship, spinning around in midair. “Yeeeeehawww!” the ‘Queen’ exclaimed while landing, quickly accompanied by loud cheers from the other Okama.

Luffy grinned. “Shishishishi! Hi Iva!” he uttered shortly after the revolutionary landed in front of Jimbei, Vivi and him, since Igaram was still on their ship, giving out orders to the crew.

“Hello there Straw Hat Boy and friends! It is beautiful to see each other again after such a long time apart!” Ivankov uttered almost dramatically. Then, he spotted someone he didn’t know yet and leaned closer to Vivi, his face coming a bit too close for Vivi’s comfort. “Ah, and who might this unknown young, pretty face be?” Ivankov asked.

Vivi took a small step back so Ivankov wasn’t completely in her face and smiled kindly. “I am Vivi Nefertari, I am Luffy-san’s former crewmate and the princess of Alabasta.” She replied.

“Ah, I see, it is fabulous meeting you today Vivi, I am Emporio Ivankov, revolutionary and Queen of the Kamabakka Kingdom and the Okama.” He said with an ‘elegant’ bow.

“It is nice to meet you as well, Ivankov-san.” The princess of Alabasta answered.

“You’re a real cutie, sweetheart.” Ivankov suddenly commented.

“Eh...thank you?” Vivi reacted, slightly confused by the random remark.

“You are very welcome indeed!”

Now, everyone had arrived, and the feast was finished shortly after Ivankov’s arrival. The three crews that Ivankov, Jimbei and Vivi had brought with them set everything up and soon enough, everyone was eating to their heart’s content. Many laughed and sung together, and Luffy had a lot of fun with his friends, despite what happened to his crew. He was still a bit worried, and yes, even the oblivious Straw Hat could worry sometimes, but he felt much better and even more determined to save his crew. The feast reminded him of the many feasts he’d had with his crewmates in the past, and he already looked forward to the grand feast they would definitely have after everyone had been broken out of Impel Down.

The feast went on all night long, and most just slept outside, on the ground, on the table, on their chairs or even on other people, using them as a pillow.

The next morning, Luffy woke up on one of the tables and jumped upright with a grin. “ALRIGHT YOU GUYS, WAKE UP AND LET’S GO!!!” he yelled out as loudly as possible, making everyone wake up with a start.

“Don’t yell this early in the morning!” one of Jimbei’s crewmates complained annoyed, but was completely ignored by Luffy, which made you wonder if he’d even heard it in the first place.

Despite the sudden awakening, everyone got to work with readying the ships for departure with determination. Luffy, Jimbei, Ivankov and Vivi decided to go to the prison on the Sunny with a few crewmembers of every crew while the rest went on their own crew’s ship.

Once everything was ready and everybody was on board their respective ships, Jimbei placed a hand on Luffy’s shoulder. “We will let you have the honour, Luffy-kun.”

Luffy grinned at the fishman captain before taking a deep breath. “EVERYONE, SET SAIL!!!” he shouted, which was met with a loud agreement from everyone else. The anchor’s were pulled up and the sails were raised. The four ships started moving towards their shared destination: Impel Down

In a dark, chilly prison cell in the depths of Impel Down, Zoro was still shackled to the wall. Not that that would ever change...

He was given food only once a day, and it was just a small, stale loaf of bread, an old potato and what was probably the tiniest edible piece of meat on earth, barely the size of his pinky finger. Since he was shackled up against the wall of his cell, he had to be fed, which was very humiliating. The prison guards didn’t get close to him though, they fed him through the iron bars with a sort of claw. Whenever he was fed, Zoro shot the guard a murderous glare. It didn’t work as well as it had on the jailors on the higher floors though, the guys down here were used to much more than them, after all, they guarded the most dangerous prisoners.

One day, and the swordsman had absolutely no idea what day it was, let alone what time it was, a voice he’d hoped he would never have to hear again spoke up a few cells away from him. “Shahahaha! So, it seems you have gotten yourself caught, huh, Pirate Hunter Zoro?” the gruff voice mocked him.

Zoro let out an annoyed grumble. “I’d hoped you were dead, Arlong.” He responded. Why did this annoying bastard have to be here?

“Ha! Me? Dead? Don’t make me laugh! I’m not some weakling who can’t handle a building coming down on him!” the fishman answered.

“Why are you even down here, your bounty isn’t that high.”

“Oh, what an honour! The great Pirate Hunter Zoro even remembers my bounty!” Arlong mocked. “If you are so curious about my whereabouts, I’ll have you know I may have tried to escape a few times, and that I may have killed some of my fellow prisoners because I was bored.”

“Good for you, fishstick.” Zoro reacted bluntly.

“Oh, how scary, I am just about ready to piss myself now!” Arlong yelled back.

Zoro groaned. This was going to be even worse than he’d first anticipated...


	3. The Arrival

The journey to Impel Down was a fairly lengthy one. After all, they had to travel from an island in the New World back to the Calm Belt. That was the biggest difficulty though. The Calm Belt was overrun with Sea Kings and had no currents. You had two real choices to get to the prison: Either you go through the Tarai Current through the heavily protected Gates of Justice and most likely alert the Marines, or you go through the Calm Belt itself with ships that have paddles and are lined with seastone to keep the Sea Kings away. 

Luffy and his allies, however, had come up with an entirely different way to get to Impel Down, a way that bypassed all dangers of the Calm Belt.

It was Jimbei, always prepared for anything, who had come up with the idea. He had also been the one to bring along the necessary materials and had his men prepare their ship so it could help with this big plan.

“Ma, ma, maaaah… The Calm Belt is on the horizon, Vivi-sama, gentlemen!” Igaram announced loudly from the Sunny’s Crow’s Nest a few days after their departure.

“Alright, then we must put the plan into action.” Jimbei spoke up. “Ivankov-san, please use the Denden Mushi to notify the other ships to get everything in working order.”

“But of course!” Ivankov responded with a twirl before heading inside to pass the orders on to the other ships.

Luffy grinned in excitement as all the final preparations were made for their awesome plan to move safely move through the notorious Calm Belt. “Nishishishi! I can’t wait! This is going to be so cool!” he exclaimed enthusiastically, bouncing around the ship instead of helping the men prepare.

Luffy’s antics caused Vivi to giggle in amusement. He really hadn’t changed a bit, hadn’t he? The desert princess was relieved that, after all the hard times he had been through, Luffy was still the cheerful, goofy pirate she knew. “Well, the Marines will certainly be surprised when they see us coming.” She agreed. 

Yes, they weren’t going for stealth this time. They actually decided that it was for the best to properly invade Impel Down and escape before reinforcements from New Marineford could get there. There was little doubt that they would still run into the Marine Admirals, who could get there faster using their Devil Fruit Powers, but they planned their escape so that they hopefully could not harm them. It was definitely a risky plan, but there would always be a risk if you tried to break people out of the most heavily guarded prison in the world. Besides, they had to do whatever they could to save their friends, even if it meant invading Impel Down at the risk of their lives.

The crews on the ships soon finished the final preparations for their launch into the Calm Belt. The ships formed a line and were tied up to one another with powerful steel chains that Jimbei had brought on his ship. The Sunny was at the front, the Fishman ship was at the back and the ships Vivi and Ivankov had come with were in the middle.

“This plan is completely crazy, so I am very surprised that it was you who came up with this Jimbei-kun!” Ivankov commented with a laugh. “You’ve become so much more manly and gutsy, I love it!”

Trying to ignore Ivankov’s latter comment, Jimbei took his place behind the Sunny’s helm. “It is the best option we have, so didn’t have other options.” He said in his gruff voice while taking hold of the wooden wheel in front of him. “Alright everyone! Go ahead and start the plan!” he then ordered. The men on the ship shared looks with one another, still not completely sure of the plan, before all running to the back of the Thousand Sunny. The men on the other ships did not move and waited nervously, no idea whether this would actually work or not.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA, this is so much fun!” Luffy laughed as he jumped and grabbed on to the steel chimney at the back of the ship, wrapping his arms around it several times with his Devil Fruit powers.

A bit scared for what would happen, Vivi clung to one of the railings while Igaram stayed right next to her doing the same.

Slowly but surely, as planned, the weight of all the men on one side caused the Sunny to tilt, the front slowly rising out of the water.

“It’s working! Good!” Jimbei spoke firmly. “Then let’s start it up! COUP DE BURST!” he shouted as the ship’s Coup De Burst launched the ship into the air above the Calm Belt and the Sea Kings’ reach. They had tilted the ship before launch to prevent the Coup De Burst from completely destroying the other ships. Instead the other ships were now launched into the air with them without any harm coming to them. Vivi and most of the men on board screamed their lungs out while Luffy laughed it all off, having the time of his life.

“DEPLOY THE BALLOONS!” the fishman captain then ordered the men, who were still half panicking from being so high in the air. They soon realised that actually falling back down with the Sea Kings was much scarier and pulled the ropes that released a large white balloon the length of the entire ship. This was the signal for the crews on the other ships to do the same thing and soon enough the four ships slowed down and floated through the air like airships. The Sunny and Jimbei’s ship started up their engines to keep them moving through the air. Once they fully realised their insane and dangerous plan was successful everyone burst out in cheers and celebration. They had done it! They were flying over the Calm Belt! (NOTE: In the anime, the Sunny’s paddles that come from the Soldier Dock system were eventually replaced with an engine. This would probably be able to move a ship through the air like an airship if there is a balloon carrying it. The paddles would not be able to do this.)

Luffy jumped down and eagerly ran to the front of the ship to see the Calm Belt beneath them. He could also see a bunch of Sea Kings that had no way of reaching them from up here. “WOAH! SO AWESOME!!!” the infamous pirate captain exclaimed in complete awe, staring ahead of them with stars shining in his eyes.

After calming herself, Vivi joined him at the front, soon followed by Igaram. “It truly is incredible. I was afraid it wouldn’t work.” Vivi said with a smile. She could still feel her heartbeat thumping strongly in her chest from the adrenaline. “It was really scary though…” she added a bit more quietly.

“Do not worry Vivi-sama! Should something have gone wrong, I would have protected you from danger!” Igaram reacted with a bow. No way he would let harm to come to the princess!

Since their journey through the air would take some time more time, there was room for final preparations before their attack on the prison. The flag and any other things that could be traced back to the Kingdom of Alabasta were removed from the ship Vivi and Igaram had arrived on. After all, Alabasta was a kingdom under the World Government’s wing, so it would be a disaster if they found out the princess of Alabasta was helping one of the most dangerous rookie pirates in the world. Vivi and Igaram also disguised themselves with robes and masks to hide their identities. Vivi would never forgive herself if she put her country in any danger. Despite that, she did not hesitate for even a second to come and help Luffy. She wanted her friends to be safe, no matter what it was she had to do to make sure of that.

“We decided to go in without a particular plan. However, this does not mean we should not be prepared for what is ahead of us.” Jimbei spoke up as the most important figures of the whole operation sat together on the Sunny’s deck. “This will be a much bigger trial than it was two years ago. There is a very good chance we will run into one or more Admirals, so try to avoid combat with them at all costs. If there is no other option, then try to immobilise them as quickly as possible. Magellan will undoubtedly be there too, so keep an eye out for him and avoid his poison. Also, try to stay together. We should move as one group to the best of our abilities. That way we always have somebody watching our backs.” The fishman instructed firmly. There was no room for error on this mission, or they would all pay dearly.

It was hot… Unbearably hot… Staying hydrated was an enormous challenge, and having to work in that tremendous, burning heat made it even more difficult. 

He had to use his hands for this labour, carrying around wood to throw into the massive pit of fire on the floor of the prison he resided in. He hated it… This was not what Sanji’s hands were meant to be used for. 

They were for cooking, not for slave labour that made his skilled hands fiery red and full of splinters. Whenever he protested, or the guards simply felt like amusing themselves, a wip came down on his bare back with tremendous force, marking his back like some sort of brand burnt into his already angry red skin.

Sanji had absolutely no sense of time in this place, so there was no way to know what day it was or how long you had been imprisoned for unless you were very observant. He guessed that it must have been about a week or so since he was brought to Impel Down. He had kept track of when the guards were replaced by a new shift. He assumed they switched once a day, and it had happened seven times so far so it had probably been seven days since he was locked up down here.

Even so, it felt like an eternity.

He worried about the rest… What kind of pain were they experiencing? Were they hurt?

Sanji knew he had to stay strong and keep a calm and collected mind though. He had faith that soon, their captain would come and get them all out of this hellhole.

Luffy and the others’ destination came into view a while later. The dark building seemed very intimidating in the distance, but no one even considered turning back. They had set out to do this, and they would not back down until they achieved their goal. The Straw Hat Crew had to be saved, no matter what.

“I wished I would never have to return to this dreadful place, but if it is to save Straw Hat Boy’s friends, then I will gladly do so.” Ivankov spoke unusually seriously while gazing ahead at the most notorious prison in the world.

“I could not agree more, Ivankov-san.” Jimbei spoke gruffly. “I will not idly stand by while my dear friends are tortured in there. They saved my people and I, and now it is my turn to save them.”

Ivankov and Jimbei weren’t the only ones who were this determined to rescue the Straw Hat Pirates despite the awful memories of Impel Down that would never fade away. Luffy himself stared at the prison that had nearly killed him and had kept his brother in dark isolation until he was brought to the location of his death. He had a foreign angered yet determined look on his face. It made him seem like a seasoned warrior, rather than a young man that set out to discover the world and fulfil his dreams with his friends. Vivi could not help but be very impressed by this never before seen side of Monkey D. Luffy.

Maybe she had been wrong in thinking that Luffy hadn’t changed over the past two years… 

He had grown…


	4. The Tremor

They were here, the notorious prison of Impel Down. Once it had a reputation of being inescapable, but they had been amongst the ones to tear that reputation down to the ground. Never had they thought to return here one day, and yet they had. Fate had some crazy ways, it seemed.

Even so, this was something that had to be done. Everyone on board with this rescue mission agreed on that, without a second thought.

They all waited with bated breath as they floated closer and closer to the ominous-looking building, which was even bigger underneath the ocean’s surface. Far bigger, in fact.

It did not take long for the prison’s experienced guards to take notice of the unusual hostile activity. They had encountered many things protecting this place, but a series of floating ships? That was a definite first.

Sirens started to go off as more and more guards rushed outside to help defend the entrance, some more heavily armed than others.

“Well well well, it seems the boys are very alert~!” Ivankov remarked casually, as if they weren’t about to break into the world’s most secure and dangerous prison.

“No surprise there, as I’m sure you know.” Jimbei agreed.

Once they were within firing range, they were hit by a large barrage of Sea Prism Stone bullets.

“Deploy the shields boys!” Ivankov ordered as his crewmates formed a wall of solid steel shields at the front of the Sunny to ward off the rain of bullets. It would have been foolish of them if they hadn’t prepared for this.

Slowly but surely, they lowered altitude the closer they got to the prison entrance. Some of Jimbei’s crew rushed into their positions to prepare the Sunny for the next phase of the plan.

“Undo the chains!” Jimbei roared as the men did as ordered. The chains holding the ships together were released, making the ships behind the Sunny veer off to the side and out of the way of certain destruction.

The Thousand Sunny stayed on its course right towards the main entrance as it got closer and closer to the water.

When the ship got into the perfect position, Luffy grinned before giving the next order. “FIRE!!!” he shouted for the top of his lungs.

The Straw Hat captain’s roar was followed by that of his ship as the lion’s mouth opened and the Gaon Cannon was unleashed upon Impel Down’s gate. A Coup de Burst kept the ship in place now that the other ships were no longer in its range.

The bright beam blasted right through the steel gate of the defensive wall and the actual gate to the prison hundreds of metres behind it, stunning enemies and allies alike with its sheer force.

The force of the blast shook the massive prison itself to its very core, from the levels above to even those deep underneath the sea’s surface. The tremors travelled through the entire building as if to let the whole prison know of the attacking party’s arrival right at its doorstep.

Luffy smirked when the blast died down and he looked at the two massive holes that were crumbling at the edges.

‘Just you wait guys… We’re coming for you.’

\----------------------------

Blood… Blood everywhere… That was all that had been filling Chopper’s mind lately. He didn’t run into other inmates very often, and when he did, they were always covered in it, just like the razor sharp trees and grass were. 

As a doctor, he felt completely helpless. He had no way of helping these people, let alone himself. He had no medical supplies and even if he did, each wound treated would just be replaced by three new ones in an instant.

There was just no end to it…

When he first arrived, he was constantly tortured by the never-ending, excruciating pain. Who knows how many days later, it was like his mind had grown dull. He still felt it, but it was almost as if he didn’t care anymore.

One thing he never did stop caring about, however, were his friends. Were they alright? Were they better off than he was? Were they scared?

Mulling over those many questions swimming through his head was painful, knowing that he currently had no way of answering them.

One particular question did bring him some comfort. In fact, this question already had an answer because there was no doubt it wouldn’t happen: Was Luffy coming to save them?

Of course he was, their captain would never leave them behind. They were going to finish sailing the New World together and find the One Piece. Luffy would never give up on his crew. He would come, soon.

Chopper’s pondering was abruptly interrupted when the whole level started shaking. It almost felt like an earthquake. It made the countless crimson needles move around as they stabbed into him, creating worse wounds, but he didn’t worry about that right now. What on earth was happening?

The screams echoing throughout Impel Down’s Crimson Hell ceased for the first time since the previous breakout of two years ago. Inmates stopped and stared in shock, wondering if someone had come to end their suffering.

Could it be? Was someone attacking Impel Down? Was someone attempting to break into it?

A smile slowly but surely crawled onto Chopper’s blood-smeared face.

“I’m right here, captain…”

It seemed there was an end to it after all…

\----------------------------

On level 2, Usopp was back in his cell after a day of trying to find Nami and running from the various beasts keeping the prisoners on their toes.

The sniper panted in an attempt to catch his breath, lying flat on his back on the cold hard floor.

He had always been a decent runner, but his stamina couldn’t handle running almost constantly throughout the day. Whenever he’d had the chance, he did try to rest, but those brief moments had been rare as the floor was crawling with monsters.

The monsters were terrifying, and his cellmates loved pestering him, but Usopp knew he couldn’t complain.

Compared to the majority of his crewmates, he had it easy. And honestly, the floor above him actually seemed worse to him. He knew for sure that Chopper would be there, considering his low bounty and the Marines mistaking him for a pet rather than a full-fledged pirate. At least on this floor you had moments of relative peace.

Suddenly, strong tremors shook him into full awareness, making him bring out a surprised squeal.

What the hell was that?!

The shaking seemed to affect the entire floor as the shocked silence was quickly replaced by confused murmurs and yelling once it stopped.

Usopp swiftly sat up and pressed his face up against the iron bars in a futile attempt to spot anything that might have caused the quaking.

“What just happened? Did we get hit by a seaquake or somethin’?” one of Usopp’s cellmates muttered in confusion.

A giant and grey-haired inmate scratched his lice-infested mop of hair. “Nah, in the many years I’ve been stuck in this shithole that’s never happened before.” He grumbled.

“Hey, ya think someone’s trying to break in?” another whispered.

After a solid minute of silence, the group burst into roaring laughter.

“As if! You’d have to be really crazy to even attempt that!” a young but sly-looking man exclaimed, his voice coated with amusement. “Sure, there was that mass escape two years ago, but even they weren’t stupid enough to just burst in through the front door!”

Someone really crazy coming in right through the front door, huh?

Usopp’s eyes lit up and a hopeful smile slipped onto the sniper’s face.

‘Luffy!’

\----------------------------

The heat was unbearable. It was absolutely awful and it made it difficult to think straight. When he got out of here, Sanji would be very tempted to just crawl into the Sunny’s fridge and stay there. Tempted to, because he still had his pride as a cook and would not let the food that should be in that fridge get ruined and wasted.

While carrying what felt like his millionth log of that day towards his assigned area to keep the fires burning, Sanji nearly toppled over when everything started shaking out of seemingly nowhere.

Briefly, all hard labour stopped as everyone tried to regain their footing and process what had just happened.

How had such a strong tremor occurred so deep under the ocean’s surface?

The level’s guards, all veterans through and through, quickly recovered from the momentary confusion and barked out orders to get back to work. Those who did not obey them quickly enough got whipped, including Sanji himself.

Cursing under his breath at the sting, the cook continued his murderous task. His mood, however, quickly changed as he threw down his log in the right place with a smirk.

It seemed the one they’d been waiting for had decided to make his grand entrance.

“Took you long enough, you idiot…”

\----------------------------

Deep in the darkness of the Eternal Hell, Zoro was shaken from his nap by a weird shaking. It wasn’t very strong, but it was still enough to wake him up and be noticed by the entire level.

“The hell was that?!” Arlong exclaimed in confusion. “Nothing ever happens down here!”

Before the fishman could really start thinking over the possibilities, a low chuckle came from one of the nearby cells. A chuckle that royally pissed him off.

“Roronoa! The hell you laughing for?! You know something, don’t you?!”

“As if I’d tell you anything.” Zoro responded bluntly, effectively blocking him out.

The swordsman ignored Arlong’s irritated complaining as he looked up to his cell’s cracked ceiling with a smirk.

‘Did you want to make sure everyone would know you’re here, captain? You’ve chosen one hell of a way to do it.’ Zoro thought to himself, already looking forward to getting the hell out of here and cutting up anyone who’d dare to get in their way.

\----------------------------

“Queen! Queen!” someone shrieked in surprise as they ran up to the bar. “Did you feel that shaking just now?”

“Of course I did honey, everyone felt it~!” a cheerful voice responded in a sing-song tone. “Did you have a look at the surveillance feeds and see what happened?”

The okama nodded in confirmation. “We did, Queen. Our Den Den Mushi at the main gate saw ships flying in with gigantic balloons! Then one of the ships seemed to be charging some kind of laser-like attack and next thing we knew, the Den Den Mushi died!”

“Oh! How interesting~!” the supposed Queen exclaimed, leaning closer. “Did you see anything that might help us identify the attackers?”

“We couldn’t really make out any faces, but the ship that launched the attack had a skull with a Straw Hat on the sail!”

The ‘Queen’ abruptly shot up from his seat with a bright smile. “A Straw Hat you say~? And it’s not a joke~?” he pressed on excitedly.

“Without a doubt, Queen!”

“Oh! What a wonderful day~! Friends have come to turn this place upside down once again!” the ‘Queen’ brought out as he danced around on the bar’s counter, bringing about enthusiastic laughter and cheering from the many colourful people gathered in the café-like hall.

“Continue with the ongoing plan to locate our recent targets and prepare to aid our newly arrived friends!”

The patrons at the ‘bar’ cheered even louder as they brought out a toast to the news.

“Un, Deux… TROIS~!” the ‘Queen’ counted down before bursting out into song and dance with his fellow okama.

‘Straw-chan, welcome back! I promise, things will be different this time! Let’s save your friends together!’


End file.
